Happy English Podcast

I walked into the office wondering what to teach in this podcast and then I remembered that the students in my podcast learner’s study group were feeling confused about using gerunds & participles, or ING and ED adjectives. Sorry, I know grammar terms can be annoying!  The idea behind my lesson for you today is to bring these grammar ideas out of the book and into your English conversation. I...

Next week is a holiday called Thanksgiving here in the USA. It’s a family holiday, where we show gratitude and appreciation to others. And that gave me the idea to help you boost your vocabulary about thanking someone. The topic for today is how to thank someone and how to respond when someone thanks you - so you can sound more like a native English speaker.  Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group...

This podcast, which I produce for you each week, is designed to help you improve your English. I’m sure that English learners who listen to the Happy English podcast can find something useful in each episode. Did you notice those relative clauses?  In a nut shell, relative clauses are kind of like these little phrases that we add into our sentences to give us extra information about a noun. And th...

I gotta tell you, I was pretty surprised when the boss paid for lunch today. I mean, he pays our salary each month, but he’s never treated us to lunch before. Of course, we were all pleasantly surprised when he took out his wallet and paid the check for us! English vocabulary can be tricky sometimes, especially when it comes to prepositions. The verb pay is a good example of this. Pay is a simple...

The Future is here! Have you seen what’s going on with AI, space travel, and robotics? When they start sending humans to go to Mars, I’m definitely gonna go. And who knows? Maybe I’ll meet a Martian.     For today’s English lesson, let’s have a look at the difference between using be going to and will, and also the other ways we can talk about the future, like using the simple present tense, the p...

Seeing that you like learning English here, I thought you may be interested in sounding more fluent and sophisticated. Today, we’ll look at 7 different ways to give a reason, aside from because, for you need to always expand your vocabulary. Today's English lesson is all about helping you to explain yourself better. Like, when you want to say "why" something happened. Yeah, you could say “because,...

Have you been bugged out recently? Has anything weirded you out? Have you been creeped out by anything or anyone lately? Well, don’t freak out. Today’s lesson is all about Halloween phrasal verbs. Today I’ve got some phrasal verbs that will help you talk about your feelings and reactions related to Halloween - this vocabulary is really useful for sounding more natural.  Join my Podcast Learner's S...

Have you ever been to a haunted house or Haunted Mansion in Disneyland? Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen a goblin or a skeleton? Today, let’s dive into the creepy and spooky! Halloween is just around the corner, so what a perfect time to look at common vocabulary related to this strange and weird holiday. I have lots of treats, and no tricks for you in this English lesson.  Join my Pod...

Do you usually listen to music while you’re studying? Do you like to study during the day or in the evening? Do you study for a few hours at once or several times during the day? When we talk about time and what happens with time, we can use during, for, in, and while.  A lot of English learners get tripped up on using these words, so let’s spend some time together today going through them.      J...

So thanks to my stupid boss, I almost missed Jack’s party last Friday night. Luckily the party was still going on when I arrived and most of my friends were still there. Almost all of the food was gone though, so I mostly ate chips.  Today, we're gonna tackle a trio of words that can be pretty tricky for a lot of English learners: almost, most, and mostly.  Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group he...

Do you like to leaf through a magazine when you’re waiting for a flight? Or maybe you’ve turned over a new leaf and started studying English more. Are you branching out into new interests? Well, unless I’m barking up the wrong tree, you’ve come to the right place today.  For this English lesson podcast, it's all about idioms with tree and leaf Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://le...

Have you ever been writing something or maybe even just talking to someone and you find yourself stuck on a couple of super common words, because you’re not sure which one is actually the right one to use? I think that happens to us language learners from time to time.  Well, today we’re gonna take a deep dive into one set of those words, just...and only.  Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group her...

These days, it seems like a lot of people all over the world speak English, doesn't it? And that means that there are ton of different English accents out there. Which is totally fine, you know? But if you are concerned about your English pronunciation, then stick around till the end of this podcast - I have a lot of ideas to help you out. No matter which one you like to listen to and use, here ar...

I went to a jazz club last night. I’ve actually been to that club several times. I went there. I’ve been there. Interesting grammar patterns, don’t you think?  Today, let's look at the difference between the simple past and present perfect tenses and with that info, how you can connect them to make your English conversations longer. Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://learn.myhappy...

Fall is here, and that means rainy days and wind, apples and nuts, and of course, leaves. . And we're diving into a whole bunch of them inspired by fall. Perfect timing, right? The leaves are changing. There's a chill in the air. We’re going to leaf through a bunch of idioms that have those fall items and see how we can use them in everyday conversational English.  Join my Podcast Learner's Study...

Even though I ain’t gonna tell you a deep history of English slang,  let’s talk about a word that’s both loved and hated: ain’t! Over the years this powerful little word has been embraced in pop songs, TV shows and movies. Love it or hate it, ain’t has definitely made its mark on the English language! For today’s podcast lesson, let’s check out how we use ain’t in everyday, conversational English....

For some weird reason, the coffee shop was closed this morning. I looked inside, but I couldn’t see anybody. I mean, I could see nothing in there. Well, actually, I didn’t see nobody. There was a mouse running around. Today, we're gonna be tackling something that's a little different. Get ready to come with me and explore the world of double negatives. Double negatives. Yeah. You heard that right....

Stop, try, remember, and forget. These four verbs can give you a headache because when they are followed by gerund (ING) or an infinitive (TO VERB) the meaning changes, like I stopped doing in vs I stopped to do it. Let me help you with those today. Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://learn.myhappyenglish.com/transcript Visit my website for over 3,000 free English lessons: https://...

It just turned fall a few days ago, and that got me thinking about fall vocabulary. And, because it’s been a few weeks since we’ve looked at phrasal verbs on the podcast, today we’re going to dive into some phrasal verbs using the word fall. These are super useful and common in everyday English, so if you’re looking to sound more natural, you’ll definitely want to stick around until the end. So, l...

In everyday English conversations, we often use short phrases to express agreement or shared feelings. Three common phrases are "me too," "me neither," and "me either." While "me too" is usually easy to use, "me neither" and "me either" can be confusing for a lot of English learners.  This lesson will help you understand how to use these phrases correctly and confidently. By the end of this lesson...

Check this out. I’ve lived here for 10 years. I’ve been living here for 10 years. A lot of English learners get stuck on the difference between those two types of sentences. Or, I’ve worked here for a long time. I’ve been working here for a long time. Let’s get those unstuck for you! Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://learn.myhappyenglish.com/transcript Visit my website for over 3...

Did you ever wish you could add a little more excitement and interest to your English conversations? Maybe you’d like to add some color and excitement to you English writing, especially when it comes to storytelling? Today, let’s take a deep dive into how the past perfect tense might just be the right spice for your next English dish. Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://learn.myhap...

I went to Central Park yesterday. Of course, it wasn’t my first time to go there. I have been to Central Park many times before.  Recently, a lot of my students and followers have asked me about the difference between sentences like, I lived there and I have lived there. You may have heard these grammar patterns are called the simple past and present perfect. Well, if these have caused you confusi...

While I was writing this lesson, I was thinking about the early days of my teaching career in Sendai, Japan. While living there, I had the chance to visit a lot of interesting places. While it was different from my life back home in New York, living there was quite an adventure. While is an interesting word in English, because it can be use as a noun, a conjunction, and an adverb. While you may th...

I went over my notes today and after reading over everything I found out that we haven't run through any phrasal verbs here in a while. Have we fallen behind, or is it just that I’ve been mixing things up.  Phrasal verbs are a huge part of English, especially spoken English and today, I have a set of ten phrasal verbs that you can use to talk about education - learning and studying. Before we dive...